


The Prince

by JollyCat



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-23 05:38:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4865108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JollyCat/pseuds/JollyCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sean Renard is lying in his hospital bed after his shooting and his mother, Elizabeth Lascelles, is watching him sleep. With time on her hands Elizabeth finds herself thinking about the past, Sean's childhood and his Royal father. This is the story of Sean's parents, how a half Royal/ half Zauberbiest child came to be born - and what happened next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Prince

**Author's Note:**

> From a brief mention of Sean Renard's childhood in another story I started thinking more about it, trying to make sense of the various bits of information we get and to answer some questions (not least, what on earth did Elizabeth see in Frederick?) This is what I ended up with...

**_Portland, Oregon, 2014_ **

_Elizabeth watches Sean in his hospital bed. He's out of danger now and the doctors are amazed at his recovery from the shooting. He's still weak though, asleep most of the time. She supposes that the last time she watched him sleep like this was when they escaped from the Royal family._

_Elizabeth reaches out and touches Sean's hair, wrapping a short curl around her finger. Odd that both Sean and Eric inherited dark, curly hair - it must come from the Renard genes somewhere along the line although Frederick's hair was nothing like this. She strokes the thick hair back into place and lays a hand on his cheek briefly. He certainly doesn't look much like his father, although when he was a child Frederick used to say Sean had his eyes. It's been a long time since she thought of Frederick, hard to imagine that once she thought she loved him..._

 

**Côte d'Azur, France 1964**

Elizabeth rubs the last bit of oil into her skin and stretches out in the hot sun. Of course she doesn't really want to get tanned - she has used other means to ensure her skin is the exact shade that will show off her white bikini to best advantage - but both beach and bikini are...advertising.

From behind her sunglasses she watches the people around her. This resort, deliberately chosen, is quieter than the others along the coast. There are people alone, families, older couples, small groups.

The party attracting the most attention is the five young men a little along from her. All are young, and good-looking with that well-nourished sleekness of the rich. They are in and out of the sea, diving showily to impress the onlookers, racing each other noisily. She would have known a couple of them even without the local gossip - a younger son of an English Duke, a Grimaldi cousin - but there is one undoubted leader: Prince Frederick, heir to the Kronenberg crown.

He's probably twenty or so, glossy brown hair, regular features, not too tall but with a compact well-muscled frame. His face is not particularly memorable but it appears often enough in the newspapers (usually in articles with titles like 'Europe's Most Eligible Bachelors') to be recognisable. There has been much discussion in the town as to why Freddie Renard is here rather than St. Tropez or Cannes and the general consensus is either a poorly judged liaison or too much of the Kronenberg wealth disappearing into the casino in Monte Carlo.

Elizabeth looks further along the beach, past the young men - now throwing a ball between them - hoping to see David. She's been arranging 'accidental' meetings for a few days: a chance collision which sent her belongings tumbling, being seated at the next table at dinner, arriving at the bar for a drink at the same moment. He walks down to the beach every day at about this time for a swim and she's made sure she's in the right place to be seen. He is exactly what she's looking for and whilst she might use a zaubertranke to get his full attention, it's been quite fun reeling him in naturally so far.

Elizabeth has had enough of wandering Europe. Yes, she's learned a lot and even built something of a reputation for herself but she feels she wants a rest, a house, enough money to indulge tastes she is sure will be expensive. She has come here to find a rich husband and in David she rather thinks she's found him. She lies back and waits.

Five minutes later Elizabeth jumps up, startled, as something thumps down next to her, showering her with sand.

"I am so sorry, I hope the ball didn't hit you."

Elizabeth looks at the prince without expression and he repeats his sentence in French. She speaks both languages as well as she does her native tongue but she's tempted to feign incomprehension and see if he'll try more translations or just go away. He's smiling at her rather disarmingly though.

"I really do apologise. Sometimes I throw balls very badly just to give myself the opportunity to talk to beautiful girls, but in this case it genuinely was an accident."

She finds herself smiling back.

"I'm fine, the ball just startled me."

"Well, you must let me say sorry in some way. Are you staying near here? If you are, do tell me which hotel you're at and let me buy you a drink?"

She's about to reply when she realises to her annoyance that David has just walked past and seen them talking. She says in as cool a tone as she can manage,

"I don't think so. The best apology you can give me is to move far enough away so you don't disturb me again."

She shuts her eyes and hopes he walks away. She has more important things to do than think about charming but no doubt untrustworthy Royal princes.

 

David has been pleasingly attentive this evening, he's certainly starting to notice her. Elizabeth decides it is time to move things on - he may find her attractive but this isn't something she's going to leave to chance. She has most of the ingredients she needs for her love potion but one or two she still needs to get. She steps out of the hotel just after midnight and walks towards the Jardin Botanique et Exotique.

The distance is rather further than she remembered and finding the plants she needs in the dark is tricky. By the time she's heading back to the hotel her patience is wearing thin and she's not paying as much attention as she should.

The three klaustreichs who step in front of her take her by surprise. They are slightly drunk, excited and looking for prey to play with. The first one pulls her arm, swinging her round, the second grabs the front of her blouse, ripping off buttons. She woges but that doesn't seem to put them off, they are pulling her across to a quieter side lane and she can't get purchase to stop them. She tries to draw on her power but the three cats are quick and strong. She's not sure whether they intend to kill her but she feels the first stirrings of fear. Suddenly one of the klaustreichs is dragged off her, the other two look behind her, over her shoulder and their ears lie back flat against their heads.

"Leave her alone."

It's Prince Frederick and she can feel the full force of his Royalty, "Let. Her. Go."

The klaustreichs take their claws off her, cringing back and then they turn and run. She shakes her head to retract her hexenbiest side and Frederick touches her arm gently.

"Are you alright. Sit here for a moment."

He guides her to a low wall, takes off his jacket, wraps it around her.

"There were Löwen Games tonight and I think those three were there, obviously too much excitement for them. I shouldn't have been there either of course - I'm supposed to be on a short rein at the moment - but I sneaked out. You're out late too."

"I, I needed some ingredients from the botanical garden."

"Nothing too nasty I hope. No love potions for my rivals."

She looks at him sharply but he's looking at her with nothing more than concern. It's been a long time since anyone looked at her with that expression. No revulsion either, although he's seen her as a hexenbiest.

"Come on, I'll walk you to your hotel."

They talk as they walk about nothing in particular. Elizabeth feels herself calming down, even enjoying the walk. As they reach the hotel Frederick turns to her.

"I would like to check on you tomorrow. May I call round?"

She nods her agreement. He reaches a hand towards her, then let's it drop.

"You know you are very beautiful."

She looks away, "I'm a hexenbiest, humans don't see beauty in that."

"I do, I think you are beautiful." He smiles at her, "Good night, I'll see you tomorrow."

 

Frederick calls on Elizabeth the next morning - he arrives shortly after the delivery of the most beautiful flowers - and when they part she has somehow agreed to dinner and dancing that evening.

She spends the afternoon making the zaubertranke but decides to put off giving it to David for the moment, there is no rush after all. She puts on her favourite dress (Frederick is a prince) and they dine at the town's best restaurant and dance on the moonlit terrace. He kisses her and she wonders at how much she wants him to kiss her again. She has been on her own for so long, she's never had time or opportunity for - or thought she wanted - anything like this.

They spend the next few days almost entirely in each other's company. One night he tells her he would like to paint her.

"You can paint?"

"Not very well, but I think you'll inspire me. I have a friend who has a studio - good artist actually - he says I can use it."

Elizabeth is not an innocent, she knows that she's not really being invited to this studio for the purposes of art. She agrees anyway.

Elizabeth makes another potion, feeling a slight stirring of unease at the unused zaubertranke she finds when she gets out the ingredients. This potion will keep her exuberant hexenbiest fertility in check: she may be behaving recklessly but she knows that conceiving a Royal child would be a serious mistake. She takes the potion and goes to meet Frederick.

The studio is light and airy, not very tidy or particularly clean but Frederick sweeps aside coffee cups and sketches and produces champagne and glasses. They make love on a narrow couch and he tells her she's beautiful again and again, even when she woges. When they lie together afterwards he tells her he loves her.

 

The following day Elizabeth is meeting Frederick for lunch. She feels light, keeps finding herself smiling. A tiny part of her wonders if this is actually what love feels like. Unusually she has arrived before Frederick so she sits at the table and watches the sea. She's lost in her thoughts when a man slides into the seat opposite her, not Frederick but the English Duke's son. He puts an envelope in between them, squaring it neatly.

"Frederick has been sent back to Austria. It was felt better that his holiday ended a little earlier than planned. I know that you and the Prince have become close recently. I have been authorised to ah, offer you something to ease your heartache."

He pushes the envelope towards her and she opens it cautiously. There is a thick wad of money, French francs and English pounds. She throws the envelope down as though it's bitten her.

"You would be wise to take this, it's not an offer that will be repeated. The only proviso is that you do not contact His Royal Highness Prince Frederick or attempt to meet him again."

She throws her drink in his face - she's always wanted to do that - and walks away.

 

**Surrey, England 1968**

Elizabeth reads the brief notice in The Times.

_A New Heir for the House of Kronenberg_

_The birth has been announced of a son, Eric Alexander, to Crown Prince Frederick and his wife Princess Helena. The baby is the first child for the couple._

She'd seen photographs of the wedding in the papers. They'd tried to make it glamorous, playboy prince marries beautiful English actress. In Elizabeth's opinion appearing in a few second rate films because your daddy was rich enough to buy you into them doesn't make you Grace Kelly. She folds the newspaper and tosses it across the table, suddenly realises she's being shouted at from upstairs,

"Liz! Liz! Let the bloody dog out will you, she's been crying for five minutes."

The use of the hated diminutive of her name, not to mention being yelled at from another room, angers her so much she actually feels her woge ripple. Having to conceal her hexenbiest side is also becoming an increasing frustration. It's a trivial incident but this is the moment she decides that one way or another this marriage is finished. Her husband is a sensible, practical man, they have made wills, taken out life insurance and there is more than one zaubertranke that will free her.

 

**Vienna, Austria 1970**

Elizabeth never intended to come to Austria. She has spent most of her time recently in France, has indeed reinvented herself as a Frenchwoman. This is partly in case anyone thinks to look more closely at her husband's death and wonder at the whereabouts of his beautiful young widow but mostly just to distance herself from that life in England.

She has picked up old contacts, made new ones and she's making a good living from her skill with potions. The offer of work in Vienna was so lucrative though she couldn't turn it down. She arrived shortly after New Year intending to stay a few days but so much work has come her way she's been here several weeks now. She's preparing ingredients for a particularly tricky zaubertranke when there's a knock on her apartment door. When she opens it Frederick is standing there.

 

**_Portland, Oregon, 2014_ **

_Elizabeth has a granddaughter, Sean has a daughter with Adalind Schade. Another child with Royal blood, another child with her blood. He told her about the baby almost straight away, clearly he cares about the child. Odd though that, after thanking her for his life, his first thoughts should have been for the Grimm. She wonders where the baby is, what she looks like._

 

**Kronenberg Castle, 1970**

Elizabeth is five months pregnant when Frederick finally convinces her to move to Kronenberg for the safety of both her and the baby. The apartment is beautifully furnished, there are servants to attend to her and her presence seems to be accepted. The Princess, she learns, spends most of her time at another of the Royal residences. The apartment is a convenient yet discreet distance from the Crown Prince's rooms and Elizabeth suspects she is not the first royal mistress to stay here in the castle's history.

Frederick comes to her as often as he can, but he does have responsibilities - not to mention another family - and at first she is restless. After a few days though she finds the library. There have been hexenbiests at Kronenberg for hundreds of years and the more distant shelves hold grimoires and zauberbuchs she has never seen before. Many will only open with her blood. She spends several weeks with a permanently cut hand before another hexenbiest in the household tells her that in her pregnant state she must stop. After that a vial of hexenbiest blood is delivered once a week, along with her breakfast.

The grimoires are fascinating: not just potions and zaubertranken but spells and enchantments, everything from a spell to make a cow have only male calves (why you would want to do that and if it's a curse or a blessing Elizabeth doesn't know) to a complicated enchantment to bring a man who has died by violence back to life.

As time goes on though she finds herself curiously content, happy to stay within the castle walls, spend time with Frederick, feel the child grow within her.

***

The birth, when it comes, is surprisingly painful. This is made worse by Elizabeth's determination not to woge - the people attending her know what she is but she feels it is important to reinforce that this child is Royal, not to remind them of its Wesen heritage.

Later that evening Elizabeth watches Frederick standing by the window and holding his son for the first time. He reaches a cautious finger, strokes the surprising mass of dark hair. He's talking to the baby, the child gazing back at him with unfocused eyes. They have argued gently about names: Elizabeth has suggested traditional family names but it is Frederick who wants to name him something different. In the end they agree on Sean.

 

**Kronenberg Castle, 1976**

Elizabeth arrives back from Madrid in the late afternoon - the Royal Families' political machinations don't really interest her but she has enjoyed the challenge of using her zaubertranken, whatever the aims. She drops her bag and, hearing children's voices, moves to the window.

Sean and Eric are playing on the grass in the sunshine, their father occasionally intervening from the sidelines. The two boys have a ball and are kicking it about in a complicated game of Eric's devising. Both children have dark curls, skin tanned from the summer sun, wearing identical shorts and thin jerseys. Sean is tall for his age, Eric more compact. They could be twins really. Eric is nearly two years older, but Sean's Zauberbiest nature gives him strength and dexterity beyond his human years and he's keeping up with his half brother.

Eric has always been surprisingly good with Sean but Elizabeth, watching from the window, notices that he finds it difficult when Sean kicks the ball past him. Eric stands for a moment and then deliberately barges into Sean, knocks him to the ground, then runs to his father. Frederick put his hand round Eric's shoulder and tell Sean to stop crying, a King's son doesn't wail like a baby at a small accident. Sean gets to his feet, dries his eyes on his sleeve. She can see him struggling to control his sobs, to be Royal for his father.

Frederick's father died a week after Sean's fifth birthday and his death has changed many things for them. Frederick has more responsibilities, Eric is now the Crown Prince and the new Queen is at Kronenberg far more. Elizabeth is starting to realise she may have underestimated Helena - she has always dismissed her, despised her, but she's finding now that the she can scheme with the best of them. Elizabeth has her own circle of influence, particularly amongst the Wesen, but she has heard Sean called a Royal bastard to her face for the first time.

Eric is eight and there has been no sign of a second child for Frederick and Helena - and everyone in Kronenberg knows that one heir is never enough. Elizabeth is blamed: some people just think she distracts Frederick but the Queen says that she is using hexenbiest potions to stop them conceiving. This isn't true - the only potions she makes like that are for herself, she doesn't want another child - but the rumours are spreading.

Frederick comes to see her that night but it ends, as so often recently, in an argument about the Queen, Sean, Erik, her place here. He's grown a beard which she dislikes and is getting rather paunchy even though he's only in his early thirties. He also looks tired and for a moment she feels a pang of sympathy before he re-ignites the row. Elizabeth eventually loses patience.

"I can't and won't stay here and be treated like this."

"Don't stay then, that can be arranged. Perhaps your having a break away from Kronenberg will do us all good."

"If that's how you feel then I will leave as soon as possible."

It's only as he's at the door that he turns and remarks, "Sean will stay here of course, with the family."

She woges instantly and totally, a vase on the shelf next to her smashes,

"Sean stays with me."

"Oh, Elizabeth," Frederick says, "You know I can never resist you like that."

***

Frederick sets them up in a comfortable house near Lausanne in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Sean is happy - Elizabeth has added a year to his age and he has no problems with the language (they've always spoken French together) so he starts at the local school, where he is instantly absorbed into a crowd of small boys.

Elizabeth is bored, very bored. She misses the politics and intrigue of Kronenberg, the need for her potions, the opportunity to travel, even the library. Frederick has provided a middle-aged couple, ostensibly to cook and clean and maintain the property and, he says, for her and Sean's protection. They are both hundjägers and Elizabeth knows they are also there to make sure she and Sean stay exactly where they are supposed to be. Frederick visits, very discreetly, but in between these times she thinks she will go mad with boredom.

Ten months later Frederick is with her when he hears Sean running past the window, shouting to his friends in French full of the local dialect. When Frederick insists that the boy must return to Kronenberg to get a 'proper' education she really can't feel anything but relief.

***

The little boy who ran to her for one final hug before leaving for Kronenberg never really comes back. Oh, she sees him two or three times a year, at least at first, but he is serious, contained, keeps his emotions firmly to himself. He is always polite and courteous to her, he will kiss her cheek when he arrives and leaves but if she tries to embrace him he moves away as quickly as he can. He talks about his life at Kronenberg but somehow tells her very little. There is only one occasion when she gets close to breaking down this barrier.

Sean is just eleven when he woges for the first time, away at Kronenberg. Elizabeth never really finds out in full what happened but there were apparently humans present and things got out of control. She no longer has the house in Lausanne (or the hundjäger watchdogs) so she is given the keys to a villa and Sean is sent to stay with her for a few weeks - just until things settle down at Kronenberg and he can control his woge reliably.

One day she comes upon him unexpectedly in a secluded corner of the garden, crying bitterly but almost soundlessly. For a couple of minutes he lets her hold him and soothe him. He tries to say something but all she can hear is 'Kronenberg' and when she tries to ask him more he suddenly pulls away and refuses to talk about it again. She doesn't know if he was crying because he was sent away from Kronenberg or because he has to go back.

 

**Austria and Switzerland, 1984**

Elizabeth still has contacts at Kronenberg (although she hasn't seen Frederick for several years) and in September of 1984 she starts to hear rumours. Frederick and Helena have never had another child and from what she hears are very unlikely to now. Frederick is supposed to have several other lovers and to spend little time with Helena or indeed Eric. The rumours say that Frederick is proposing to formally acknowledge and adopt Sean: under the Kronenberg rules of inheritance he will then be second in line to the throne, the heir behind Eric. Elizabeth doesn't know what Frederick is thinking of, he's not normally this politically inept or suicidal. Helena and Eric will not stand for this and there are enough humans close to the throne who will never accept a half Zauberbiest bastard as heir. Sean is in real danger.

Elizabeth gets as close as she can to Vienna, uses all the contacts she has and begins to call in every favour she is owed. She brews a production line of potions and keeps them packed and ready to go. As Sean's fourteenth birthday approaches she gets more and more nervous. Fourteen is an important age in Austria - the age of consent, the start of adulthood - and it would be a significant day for Frederick to announce his intentions.

Four days before Sean's birthday she gets the phone call she has been waiting for from her contact at Kronenberg. Philippe has been a trusted source over the years and his son, Sebastien, is one of the few friends that Sean talks about. The attempt will be made on both their lives tonight, they need to get out.

She uses the first of her potions to leave a simulacrum of herself lying in her bed - in reality a crude dummy but doused in a potion that will make anyone see it as her. She drives to Kronenberg through torrential rain, conceals the car and heads on foot to the meeting place. Philippe has agreed to get Sean out of the castle and then 'friends', probably Laufer resistance, will take them as close as they can to the Austrian/Swiss border. It will be up to her to get them across to Switzerland. She has further contacts there who will have papers for them and tickets to Moscow. She doesn't know whether they will stay in Moscow or head for the USA - both are places which got decisively rid of their Royals, either should be safe if they keep their heads down.

Many years later Elizabeth will, due to reasons too complicated and distasteful to remember, be forced to watch _The Sound of Music_ in its entirety. She spends most of the film going though all the painful, fatal or just embarrassing potions she could give to the person who caused her to be there. At the end though, as the Von Trapps cheerfully stroll across the mountains to Switzerland she suddenly has to leave the room, overwhelmed by the emotion and physically sick at the memory of their own very different journey.

Sean arrives with Phillipe, he seems dazed by events, follows their instructions without discussion. When they get in the car with the unnamed 'friend' Sean turns away and seems to fall asleep. As they drive west the storm gets heavier. She has planned carefully but there is nothing she can do about the weather.

The car drives off, the nameless man has got them as near as he can to the border and she's grateful for every yard. Much, much later she will hear that he is intercepted and interrogated by the Verrat, dies under torture. She gives Sean a zaubertranke consisting mostly of a drug that will give him extra strength and stamina, takes some herself. They set off.

This high up the rain has turned to icy snow, the wind sending it horizontally, stinging against any exposed flesh. In summer hikers will walk this route for fun, the Râtikon Mountains a scenic backdrop. Now though it feels like the end of the world and Elizabeth worries that she has made the wrong choice. They could have made easier crossings to Italy, even Czechoslovakia. Switzerland seemed the best choice, partly because of the difficulty - why would she chose this route when there were others so much easier? - but also because she has the best, most reliable contacts there. It should have been tiring but quite manageable for a hexenbiest and a zauberbiest, even one not quite fourteen.

After more terrible hours then she wants to count the wind drops a little and there is the suggestion of dawn away to the east. They aren't going to manage the whole journey in one session, they both desperately need to rest. There is a building ahead - a shed really, some kind of shelter for walkers. She breaks the lock and they stumble inside.

There is no heating so they huddle together, the first time in years Sean has allowed her to hold him, and fall asleep. She doesn't know how long she rests but when she wakes the storm is definitely fading.

She sits up and watches Sean sleeping - they should move on but she can't quite bear to wake him straight away. He's going to be tall - at the moment he's all long legs, hands and feet he hasn't quite grown into - and broad shouldered. His face still has a slight childish softness but she can see the outline of the man he will become. When he opens his eyes he actually smiles at her, lets her smooth his rumpled hair.

This should have been a good moment - they've nearly finished the journey, the weather is improving, safety is only a hike away - but it turns into one of the worst. In that quiet moment, a wooden hut somewhere in Switzerland, Sean begins to tell her about his life at Kronenberg. She realises for the first time just what she did to her son when she handed him to the Royal family.

***

They meet her contacts, get away from Switzerland and eventually away from Europe entirely. They build a new life. In time the Royals realise where he is but by that time he's an adult, a police officer and five and a half thousand miles away. They leave him alone, at least for a while.

  

**_Portland, Oregon, 2014_ **

_Sean is nearly ready to leave hospital, they are just finishing the final paperwork. While he's been here Elizabeth has met many of the people Sean talks about: Detective Hank Griffin, Sergeant Wu, Monroe, Rosalee, other officers from his precinct. And Nick Burkhardt of course._ _She's glad Sean has people who care about him._

_He has a daughter too but she wishes the child had been born of a proper relationship, someone Sean actually loved rather than the manipulations of Adalind Schade. At least she and Frederick genuinely cared for each other for a while. She wonders what kind of man Sean would have been if she'd run from the Royals when he was seven rather than nearly fourteen, would he have been happy in a way he isn't now?_

_Finally she thinks she does know who would be good for Sean, would make him happy. Unfortunately she's not sure either will ever realise it._


End file.
